The police have arrested a man suspected to be involved in a number of high profile robbery and murder incidents in the Tema area. Mustapha Awaya, alias Ernest Awaya, 40, was arrested last Thursday, in connection with an attack on workers of an estate developer.

During initial interrogation by the police, Awaya allegedly confessed to taking part in the robbery that led to the death of an immigration officer and the Akosombo branch manager of Zenith Bank in 2013.

Awaya is currently in police custody assisting in investigations to enable the police to establish the veracity or otherwise of some of his claims and also determine whether some of the murders were contract killings or not.

Three other suspects, Idi Kekenso and two others, identified only as Faisal and Sadat, are currently on the run.

Arrest

The Director-General of the Police Intelligence Directorate (PID), Commissioner of Police (COP), Mr Christian Tetteh Yohuno, told the Daily Graphic last Friday that the police on September 4, 2018, received a complaint that Awaya and other suspects had held an estate developer, Mr Emmanuel Laryea, and his workers hostage at Apolonia, with a threat to kill all of them.

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He said a joint operation by the Intelligence Directorate and a team from the headquarters Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU) led to the arrest of Awaya.

Mr Yohuno said during interrogation, Awaya allegedly mentioned his involvement in the killing of the 36-year-old immigration officer, Kofi Quist Defor, at Mataheko in Tema, the killing of the Manager of the Akosombo branch of the Zenith Bank, Mr Kwesi Sakyi Prah, at Community 25, and the shooting of a police sergeant, Godfred Appiah, on March 3, 2017, at Jerusalem Police Barrier at Ashiaman, after which his (Appiah’s) AK47 assault rifle was seized from him.

Mr Yohuno said Awaya was currently under arrest in connection with all the cases and had been granted bail in all of them by the courts.

He said on February 22, this year, a gang comprising Ali Suley, now deceased, Idi Kekenso, Ernest Awaya, and others identified only as Faisal, Sadat, without any provocation, fired AK 47 assault rifle into estate developers returning from their site at Katamanso.

He said one of the victims, Godwin Kugblenu, lost his testes, during the attack, while others, including a school- girl, who was hit by a stray bullet from the assailants, received treatment at the Tema General Hospital.

Mr Yohuno said Awaya was under interrogation after which he would be handed over to the appropriate police stations to conduct in-depth investigations for possible prosecution.

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Recall

The Manager of the Akosombo branch of the Zenith Bank, Mr Kwesi Sakyi Prah, was shot and killed in the early hours of December 24, 2013, when two unidentified gunmen stormed his residence in Tema.

Prah, 34, who was based at Akosombo. was spending the weekend with his wife and their two children at his two-storey residence at Community 25.

The police suspect foul play, since the attackers did not take anything of significance from the house.

In the case of Mr Defor, the Immigration officer, he was shot and killed in the early hours of December 30, 2013, by suspected armed robbers at his residence at Mataheko in Tema.